Phil Taylor was in impressive form as he beat Peter Wright 4-1 to book a place in the quarter-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship at London's Alexandra Palace.

Taylor flew into a 2-0 lead and had a chance to take the third set 3-0 but after he failed to do so, Wright stunned the favourite with three successive legs to close in to 2-1. The world No1 steadied himself and eventually moved into the last eight.

Taylor's biggest rival, Raymond van Barneveld, was impressive if not at his lethal best in a 4-1 defeat of Kevin McDine in the first game of the evening session.

While he was not firing on all cylinders, the Dutchman did land 10 maximums and took one leg with an 11-darter.He will now meet Colin Osborne. "I put big scores together at important times to get the win, and I am pleased with the 98 average," Van Barneveld said.

Mark Webster was first through to the last eight, beating the former airline worker Mark Hylton 4-1. Hylton had looked dangerous at 1-1 but after failing to move ahead, he fell away and the Welshman cruised home.

Earlier, Dennis Priestley pushed Gary Anderson all the way in a thrilling contest. Anderson was cruising at 3-0 up before the Mexborough man pulled himself back to 3-2. A highlight of Priestley's charge was a 13-dart checkout but Anderson had too much and picked up a 4-2 win. "Dennis is a true legend of the game and a tough competitor," he said later.

Osborne was in ominous form as he crushed Jamie Caven 4-0 while Andy 'The Pieman' Smith saw off the world No6 Mervyn King 4-3. Ranked 22 places below King, Smith had a high-checkout of 140 in what was the biggest win of his career. "Mervyn wasn't at his best but I stuck in and got the win," Smith said.